Where two tectonic plates meet at a subduction zone, one bends and slides underneath the other, curving down into the mantle. (The mantle is the hotter layer under the crust.) … At a subduction zone, the oceanic crust usually sinks into the mantle beneath lighter continental crust.

What causes subduction zones?

Subduction occurs when two plates collide at a convergent boundary, and one plate is driven beneath the other, back into the Earth’s interior. … When an oceanic plate collides with a continental plate, the denser oceanic plate is bent downward and slides under the edge of the continent.

What happens to subducted plates?

When a tectonic plate gets subducted, it sinks underneath another tectonic plate. The crust is heated and melts as it enters the mantle and the rock…